WINE.
17
elements of the sugar, for which reason some
difficulty has been experienced in accounting
...
for its agency in exciting fermentation. It has
been ascertained, however, that the substance
which possesses the power of exciting or induc–
ing fermentation, in a new solution of sugar,
and which has received the name of
fennent,
is
a yellowish or gray insoluble body, containing
a large proportion of nitrogen, produced by the
fermentation of the grape juice, in addition to
the alcohol and carbonic acid already men–
tioned. The alcohol and carbonic acid are
produced from the elements of the sugar and
the nitrogenized substance above mentioned,
from the azotized constituents of the grape
juice-vegetable albumen. "The manner in
which this vegetable albun1en or gluten is con–
verted into a ferment is by the oxygen of the
water, or of that of the sugar, combining with
the gluten, hydrogen being set free, and enter–
ing into new combinations, or new compounds,
2*